03/04/2017 London News

The number of London's "hidden" homeless being housed

outside of the capital has tripled since 2012.

In some cases, these vulnerable families, who suddenly find

themselves in need of immediate temporary accommodation, can be

Councils say they have no choice because of

Three years ago, when she was eight months pregnant with her first

daughter, her private landlord evicted her.

He didn't want children on his property.

Desperate, she went to her council, who put her in temporary

accommodation outside London in Welwyn Garden City.

I didn't know anything in the area, I really struggled to get

It wasn't easy, I was all by myself, pregnant, I was about to give birth

and basically been stripped away from my support network

She's still working in retail in London to help pay the rent.

More than 80% of my pay goes towards travelling to work.

It's been a nightmare, because everything in my life

In 2012-13, around 600 people were put in temporary

But by 2015-16, that number had climbed to just over 2000,

Some of those might be for a few nights, others, like Abigail,

Although most people are sent to areas just outside of London

like Thurrock and Hatfield, that's not always the case.

Some have been put in accommodation as far

Councils say they have to do this because they've

Councils find themselves in an almost impossible position,

with literally no accommodation they can use anywhere nearby

and families who have to be, have to have a roof over

And the problem is getting bigger, as more people

People who are in work, people would expect would keep

a roof over their heads, our findings that through no

fault of their own, the landlord's put the rent up,

the market's risen around them and they just can't find anywhere

Abigail does have a house, but after three years away

from her family and friends, she still waiting to note

Drivers in the Aslef rail union have rejected a measure put forward

to resolve their dispute with Southern Rail about who should

52% of the Aslef drivers voted against

Let's cross now to our reporter Louisa Preston who

This is the second time that Aslef's is have voted against a union, which

is all rather frustrating and embarrassing. Basically, they get to

a deal they believe the drivers will be happy with and the drivers more

or less vote against it. It was extremely close this time, about 50/

50. They are not going away saying they will call more strike action.

They are saying we want to get back around the table to talk this

through. They believe they are not far away from a deal. After months

and months of disruption, commuters are still extremely frustrated.

I think at the start everyone was fed up and angry,

and now everyone just goes, that's just Southern,

I am just exasperated by the whole thing, really.

It's about time they got a grip and got back to work.

The other union involved in this is the RMT. They have never stopped

their strike. They go on strike again on the 8th of April, Grand

National day. That will be the that of the day of strike action against

seven for the RMT. Back to you. Thank you for the update.

It's been announced that the new head of the Metropolitan Police

will officially start her job a week today.

Cressida Dick was appointed at the end of February

and is the first female commissioner in the force's 188-year history.

She'll take the helm just weeks after the Mayor

published his new Police and Crime Plan.

We've long heard the argument that shops should close their doors

in the winter to save on energy - but what about all year

Campaigners say, it would greatly improve air quality in stores.

But many retailers worry it could affect trade.

Here's our Environment Correspondent Tom Edwards.

It's Europe's busiest shopping street with half

a million visitors a day, but it also has a pollution problem.

On Sundays, Oxford Street has some of the highest levels of nitrogen

It comes from diesel engines, from buses and from cabs,

and it's not helped due to something called canyoning, where

the nitrogen dioxide gets stuck between the buildings.

And if you walk down the street, you'll noticed most of the shops

It's completely invisible around us is.

Now campaigners think shops should close their doors,

to reduce energy use and cut the levels of pollution inside.

It would make a huge difference to the health risks,

They'd be saving a huge amount of energy.

Most of them are using air conditioning or heating.

Research from Kings College has shown that pollution in shops can be

reduced by up to 30% if the doors are closed.

It's very obvious that the shop's open.

It's a very inviting, encouraging entrance to the shop.

Marks Spencer says it's already doing it and it

Of course, there's other benefits that we're getting from this,

Since 2007, we've reduced our energy usage across our estate by 39%.

Doors and making sure that our buildings,

the fabric of our buildings, particularly the entrances

and exits, are sealed well is an important aspect of that.

Retail groups say they do take pollution seriously,

and want more shops to help improve air quality.

We have 200 million customers a year coming to the West End,

They have choices where they shop and the environment

in which they want to shop, so of course it's important

commercially, but equally we have 100,000 staff who work here,

we have a right to help London in terms of better air quality,

so I think it's really high on the political agenda.

It's equally very high on the boardrooms of a lot

Campaigners say closing shop doors is a no-brainer.

A simple solution to reduce pollution.

Well, this month's special edition of The Big Issue

is filled with work from some of our leading contemporary artists.

And in some of them, ten golden tickets,

where the reader will win an actual work of art.

For many in W1, he's a fixture, selling The Big Issue

I was a relative stranger in London at the time.

As well as making a couple of pounds, which was much

needed in order to get by, it provides a social

network and it encourages you to engage with people.

And this issue of The Big Issue is bigger than most.

That's because it's been guest edited by a big name

in the contemporary art world, Charming Baker.

Today, he's signing copies to launch this edition filled

with special contributions from other well-known artists.

I was quite overwhelmed by just how generous the artists were.

I know from being in artist, and some of the artists I know,

we get asked to do stuff all the time, and some

And I was really worried asking people, and that's why I tried

Celebrated artists like Jake and Dinos Chapman

And, for the founder of The Big Issue himself,

a fan of Tai Chi as well as art, painting meant he was able to go

from a life on the streets to a life in the House of Lords.

As well as discussing these themes, this special edition

to own an actual work of art, featured in the magazine.

There are ten golden tickets to be found.

And I'll leave you with Wendy and a look at the weather.

It has been lovely the last few days. The weather for the week ahead

still has high pressure in it. Although it will be mostly dry and

settled, the one thing to mention is there will be some rain tonight

which is working towards us at the moment. On the satellite picture you

can see what is going on. Clear skies in between and this cloud

comes in after midnight and brings the rain into tomorrow morning. A

cold front but high pressure builds in back behind it. We might have a

little more cloud caught up with the high pressure. Perhaps not beautiful

blue skies enjoyed over the last you days. At the moment clear skies and

a bit of low cloud, mist and fog developing. Towards midnight and the

early hours of the morning a little bit of rain, a fairly mild night at

7-9 . Still rain around in places first thing tomorrow morning for the

rush hour journey to work. A lot of cloud stuck with us through the day.

It found pieces of drizzle but we will perhaps have brightness edging

through from the North West later on in the day with a temperature of 15

degrees that this is looking a little pessimistic, this outlook.

We'll see some sunny spells in amongst the cloud. What was the on

Thursday and Friday is some brighter, sunny morning support it

begins to cloud over into the afternoon. The wind is light. On the

outlook we can see the weekend weather. Still high pressure, so it

is remaining settled. It will feel fairly warm and

is remaining settled. It will feel fairly warm and dry as well.

Good evening. Some rain spreading in across the Atlantic overnight. As it

does so we will see some fresh Atlantic air following on from

behind. The pollen levels will drop but the temperatures will also drop.

Some rain to go with the cloud. It is moving its way from west to east.

Drying up in not an island and eventually it will dry up in most of

Scotland. The fresher Atlantic air is following on behind. In major

towns and cities it will be five, 6 degrees. Across England and Wales

there would be extensive cloud cover. It will be a pretty grey and

wet start to some parts of Wales and the South West of England. Not much

rain by eight o'clock in the morning. Pretty grey, misty and

murky for some. Head further north and not much rain to be had. Still a

lot of